As part of a special report on stressed-out students, NLJ
reported Monday on what's driving students crazy.

Georgetown law student Rebecca Stellato, for one, said she wasn't
prepared for the "shark tank" atmosphere there that wasn't
conducive to happiness at all.

"There were a lot of Type-A personalities, and they make it so
much more stressful than it needs to be," she said. "It's not
healthy for anyone."

Law students usually get depressed because they value "external
measures" such as grades and class rank too much, Florida State
law professor Lawrence Krieger told NLJ. Instead, he said,
students should focus on relationships with others and
self-improvement.

Krieger also said "thinking like a lawyer" poses problems for
students.

"In their first semester, students are taught to basically ignore
their feelings and values and take on a new value system in which
the best argument wins," he told NLJ. "It's no longer about
caring for people, who students now refer to as 'parties.'"